Gooseberry Meringue Pie

Gooseberries are a bit of an obsession of mine. Partly because I love them and they were something I always missed when living abroad. And partly, I think, because they seem to be so damn elusive. I have a vague idea that they're in season in the summer, but for two years in a row I have made the mistake of waiting for them to crop up in the shops. Which just doesn't seem to happen. This year I bought one lot  in the local farmer's outlet - and then never saw any again, despite returning there, then traipsing around most of Cambridge and popping to a PYO farm. And now I think it's too late, unfortunately.
As it happens I was listening to the Food Programme this week and they were talking about the rise of the blueberry at the expense of native British soft fruits. They're easier to transport, apparently, and have had a good marketing campaign as a superfood*. So I feel most patriotic expounding the virtues of the gooseberry! 
And I've made at least one convert. Mr 'Splorer was sceptical at first, having sneaked a raw gooseberry from the fridge. (You can't leave any food lying around in this house without it being snaffled - he blames it on growing up with three brothers. Apparently you had to move pretty fast!) But when I explained that the green ones weren't for eating raw and then made this gooseberry meringue pie, I think I managed to convince him that they are a scrumptious dessert ingredient. 
This was a very forgiving recipe. First I had another pastry disaster, but I've decided I just got used to making pastry in sub zero temperatures this winter and I had forgotten how fickle it could be. Then, having made the pie the day before and left it in the fridge, I managed to pretty much freeze it, with bits of cling film forming ugly dark sticky patches on the top of the meringue. But I left it out to defrost and it tasted like nothing had happened. But please note that it looked a little prettier when it came out of the oven! 
But prettiness isn't everything - and it tasted great. The sharpness of the gooseberries worked wonderfully with the sweet meringue. 
So, all that remains is to give you the recipe. I had the idea all by my lonesome, but luckily the clever people at waitrose.com had had it before me, so I didn't have to make it up as I went along. I used this recipe, only changing it by adding elderflower cordial where it says water to the gooseberries. It didn't taste very elderflowery, so maybe I'd add a bit more next time. Oh, and I only made half the recipe, which actually produced eight portions, rather than the four it should have. That never happens to me!

*There was also an article online if you're interested in the invasion of the blueberry! 

Sunday round-up of deliciousness

I warned you, didn't I, that a round-up of deliciousness might pop up any time? Well, my Google Reader was creaking under the weight of the all the deliciousness so I decided tonight was the night. Wednesdays aren't very convenient these days, as I have taken to attending a salsa class with Mr 'Splorer (one of the advantages of a Latin American hubby is that he will dance!). So, rather than collating blog posts, I am generally to be found attempting to dance Cuban salsa under the instruction of an extremely flamboyant Cuban by the name of Leandro, who shouts "I see you!" at random participants from time to time. 

Anyway (!) we'll see how the round-up timetable works out. In the meantime, check out some of these delights. Just writing this up has made my tummy rumble!

Scrumptious suppers from around the world

Kuksu - a Maltese spring soup, made with broad beans and kuksu (Israeli cous cous) or pasta. Perfect for my new ability to eat broad beans!

Tomatoless Beef and Squash Curry - a "hot, pungent and slightly sweet curry" made for someone who doesn't like tomato - and was apparently delicious. 

Chicken cacciatore - which promises "minimal effort for maximum flavour" and looks like the perfect supper dish to have up your sleeve.

Syrian Fajita(ish) - which looks like a wonderful combination of flavours, with a tahini sauce and parsley salad. 

Ginger tofu, ginger beef style, with Chinese five spice rice - described as the best tofu you'll ever eat. Dipped in cornstarch and fried in canola oil (which seem to be cornflour and rapeseed oil respectively for Brits!), it looks crunchy and delicious.

Ga Kho - a Vietnamese dish of caramelised chicken, a spicy, tangy dish that looks absolutely scrumptious.

Haddock with braised lettuce - apparently a French dish originally, this dish with lettuce, peas, haddock and eggs looks like a really fresh and delicious supper.

Home made hummus and pitta - apparently home made hummus is a bit of a faff, if you want to get it right, but it looks so good I might have to give it a try. And the pitta breads look lovely - just like the ones my parents make. And Helen says they're easy!

American style cakes, cookies and puds

Peach blueberry cobbler - a wonderfully summery dessert and a great alternative to crumble. I just love discovering all these American wonders through blogs.

Old fashioned apple pandowdy - a dessert that is apparently similar to a cobbler - a fruity layer covered in a biscuity topping. Scrumptious!

Key West Cake with Mango Mousse and Ginger Cream - a gorgeous tropical layer cake, drenched in rum syrup, which involves making a rather delicious looking lime ginger curd. 

NY Times Cookie Recipe - which is probably my fiftieth chocolate chip cookie recipe on here, but it is apparently approaching chocolate chip cookie nirvana. You have to rest the dough for 36 hours to enable the egg to absorb into the other ingredients. Intriguing...

Squidgy brownies - another classic for which you're always looking the ultimate recipe - and this looks like a serious contender.

Blueberry lemon muffins - these are apparently lighter than a normal muffin and not too sweet. I love the sugary tops and can just imagine scoffing a whole load with a lovely cup of tea! 

Other lovely little sweet bits

Frozen raspberry Eton mess - a stupendous idea, that also contains lemon curd. What a perfect summer dessert. I must make it quickly before the sun disappears!  

Strawberry, pistachio and orange cakes - really cute little cakes made roasted strawberries with orange blossom.

Morir soñando (To die dreaming) - a Dominican drink made of orange juice, vanilla extract and sugar. With a name like that, you've got to try it, haven't you? 

Peach and plum freeform pie with fresh nutmeg streusel - a really gorgeous looking dessert stuffed full of scrumptious fruit. 

Dressy chocolate cake - a really classy looking loaf cake, which is cut into three so that you can pop in some jam, and then iced in a mixture of melted chocolate and sour cream. A serious contender for my birthday cake! (Not for another month, but a girl has got to plan...!)

Puffed peach pancake - a wonderful breakfast dish of risen batter with lovely fruit, which apparently is also made with apples. I think I might have to try both.

And finally...

Heston Blumenthal's triple cooked chips - these look so perfect and so very edible that I'm more than willing to take on the faff of cooking them three times, and drying and cooling them in between.

Beetroot burgers with barley, broad beans and goat's cheese

This might just look like a normal bit of dinner to you, but to me, it's a bit of a breakthrough. And not just because it's something tasty that came out of a diet book! No, it's because broad beans and beetroot both used to figure fairly highly in my dislike list. But, as I get older, I do seem to be crossing off quite a few entries in that list. So when they arrived in the vegetable box, I thought it was time I added these two to my repertoire. Plus, I'd heard tell that broad beans could have their little jackets taken off to make them less bitter.
So, after an appeal on Twitter yielded the suggestion of beetroot burgers from common law sis-in-law* and goat's cheese as a good combo with both from Sarah of Brock Hall Farm (makers of goat cheese from Shropshire, not far from my childhood home), this was my dinner. The recipe for beetroot burgers came from The Nordic Diet, a book donated by the common law sis-in-law as she had a spare. I made the beetroot burgers pretty much as specified and served them with pearl barley, but with some goat's cheese and broad beans.

Beetroot burgers 

 (Serves 4)
500g raw beetroot, grated (the book says half red beetroot and half yellow, but I only had yellow, and only 400g of that, so topped it up with potato)
100ml oatmeal (have only just noticed that says ml - I used 100g!)
3 eggs
1 shallot, very finely chopped
4 tbsp finely chopped dill
2 tbsp finely chopped thyme
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp rapeseed oil, for frying

Mix the ingredients (minus the oil) in a bowl and put into the fridge for an hour. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Form flat cakes of the burger mixture with your hands. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the cakes until golden on both sides. Transfer them to an ovenproof dish and put in the oven for 20 minutes.

Barley, broad beans and goat's cheese
(This one's a bit more approximate!)

200g pearl barley
1 bunch of parsley, chopped
1 bunch of thyme, chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
100g soft goat's cheese (I used the entertainingly named 'Wobbly Bottom')
150g broad beans, podded

Cook the pearl barley according to the packet instructions. Fry the garlic until golden, then add parsley and thyme and fry for about a minute. Cook the broad beans in boiling water for about 4 minutes. Drain and when cool, peel off the outer skin. Mix everything together along with the goat's cheese.

And the verdict? Pretty damn good, actually! I don't think that they are meant to be served with bread, what with the dietiness, but who can resist home made focaccia brought home from a spectacular parental feast?! I took another one to work for lunch today and found myself hankering after another at about 3pm. Which is traditional 'dreaming of chocolate' time, so I think that's a pretty full conversion to beetroot.
The broad beans were also much nicer out of their jackets (though taking them off did make the skins look and feel quite a lot like a blister - sorry!) and added a touch of freshness to the barley. Oh, and according to the book, barley has all kinds of stupendous minerals and whatnot so eating it made me feel mighty virtuous.
So, having had three beetroot burgers today, now I'm just waiting for the pink pee!

*A workmate said that calling her 'common law sis-in-law' sounds like we don't get on - which isn't true! But can't think of a snappy way to refer to her. Any suggestions?

Very full tart

Following the success of the Quinoa salad from Plenty, when a few chums popped over recently, I decided to give another recipe a go - a Very full tart, aka a tart stuffed to bursting with roasted vegetables, feta and ricotta. And served it with more Quinoa salad. And, though I think I marginally prefer the salad, the guests pronounced this tart to be the triumph of the meal.
But it didn't start off very triumphantly, I can tell you. My shortcrust pastry (a Rachel Allen recipe) went all fall-y apart-y, which meant that I couldn't get it thin enough to cover the bigger tin, which meant that I had too many roasted vegetables for my tin. And then it all shrank while it was blind baking, leaving little holes in the bottom, despite my best efforts at patching it up. Disaster! Luckily, I used my years of cooking experience to work out that I should set some of the vegetables aside for a later tart and wrap the tin in foil to prevent any possible spillage. And it worked - and came out looking rather scrumptious, though I say so myself. I liked the way it was full of loads of different roasted vegetables, so it was one of those dishes where every mouthful is different. And I love the way Ottolenghi recipes use loads of herbs to give you a result that's bursting with flavour. I'll definitely be making this one again.
I got the recipe from Gourmet Chick. But it really is time I bought that book...

PS The Wednesday round-up of deliciousness will be back at some point. I'm stilling storing up recipes, but I never seem to be in on a Wednesday night - especially what with this AMAZING weather. Maybe I'll surprise you all by doing it on a Tuesday! (Oh yes, I know how to live dangerously.)